


medicine

by maiselocked



Category: The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (TV)
Genre: Character Analysis, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Falling In Love, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Song Lyrics, basically the story of lenny falling in love with midge, follows the shows plot, medicine by havelin, pov lenny bruce
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-01
Updated: 2020-07-01
Packaged: 2021-03-04 20:41:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,222
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25022569
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/maiselocked/pseuds/maiselocked
Summary: in which midge maisel is lenny's medicine, his shining light, his hope.
Relationships: Lenny Bruce (The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel)/Miriam "Midge" Maisel
Comments: 3
Kudos: 64





	medicine

**Author's Note:**

> this isn't really a story ?? it's more just lenny's pov and story of falling in love with midge with some post season 3 at the end. i don't know. i really like it though. 
> 
> here's the song it's based off of:
> 
> https://open.spotify.com/track/2hR1lWmjR3RbEN9Wg45g9z?si=ppIy0jFQTxuNfReQ9TJaTg

_Oh I hope you know,  
Oh I hope you know,  
That I was barely hanging on,  
When I first saw you I was pitful,  
And I was losing every night._

Lenny Bruce was all sorts of fucked up and he’d admit it too. He was bordering on alcoholic if not already there. He slept on a concrete slab inside of a jail cell more times than he slept in his own bed in his mess of an apartment. He was fresh out of a divorce and lost custody of his daughter. Clubs around New York City would refuse to allow him to perform due to his less than appropriate content. 

Lenny didn’t believe in fate, miracles, or any shit like that. He breezed through life, never analyzing the consequences his actions had. The only time he ever considered miracles to be real was when he met Midge Maisel. 

Lenny held female comedians at a high level of respect. He wasn’t a chauvinist, sexist asshole. He knew women could be just as funny as men (most were) and that was especially true for Midge. Who knew the Jewish woman from the Upper-East Side could make a crowd laugh like that? Sure, she showed her tits but that doesn’t matter. 

The next few times he met Midge were completely coincidental but each time was just as thrilling as the last. The two just simply worked together. 

_I asked if you might,  
Stay a while,  
Oh stay a while,  
You said maybe if your voice could,  
Make me smile,  
Oh make me smile._

The night Lenny performed at the Gaslight to help out Midge was the first time he had felt real happiness in a while. Her set was fucking _hilarious_ as all of them usually were and he could’ve swore tears were pooling at one of her bits. 

When the crowd erupted in cheers and applause and she jumped down the stage and ran into his arms, he wrapped them around her as she babbled excitedly that “It worked! It worked!”. Lenny was genuinely nervous about if he could actually go after her. 

After everyone went home that night, Lenny wandered the streets for a few hours before returning to the dingy apartment he had been renting for the past few months. It was then that he began to think about Midge. He thought about how they so easily had conversations, joked around with each other, critiqued the others' acts, and so on and so forth. 

Maybe Lenny was developing something of a high school crush on Midge but he put that to the side and allowed himself to drift into a very light sleep. 

_And I told ya give me one chance,  
I don't deserve you to give me this one chance,  
You're my medicine,  
You're my medicine._

Lenny was going through some things in his life the night he sauntered into the Dublin House. He had a warrant out for his arrest in Chicago, lawyers needed money, he had sold his apartment, and a whole bunch of other shit. It was that night he confided in Midge. 

She happened upon him after her own failed set and he told her he was tired. He really opened up. Well, as open as Lenny Bruce could get. He figured he had nothing to lose. 

But there she was. That one little ray of hope in his life. She told him everything would be okay. And for a moment, he believed her. He had the new gig on TV coming up. It was looking down but Midge brought him back up even just for that moment. And she even offered to come with him. He could’ve sworn he was in love with her. And maybe he was. 

It was 8:00 on a Sunday and Lenny was standing backstage, watching Steve Allen, waiting to be introduced. Midge’s thick New York accent floated through the set and then she came around the corner, perfectly dressed as always. She flipped him around, straightened his tie, and checked his hair. 

That Midge. Always so worried with looks and appearances. He found it endearing. And then he was on live TV, performing his act, holding back his normal behavior no matter how bad he wanted to talk about the President fucking a pig or whatever. 

The silent support from Midge backstage was all he needed that night. 

_Oh I hope you know,  
I hope you know,  
You pulled me up when I was down,  
You showed me love when I knew hopelessness,  
Breathing slowly softer sounds._

And then there came the fateful night in Miami. Midge had never looked more like a comedian than she did that afternoon: notebook in one hand, drink in the other. He promised they would go out for a drink once he got back in town and Midge gratefully accepted. 

Then the night came and he had a note delivered. She showed up to the bar and pestered him to no end about her act. He finally silenced her by proposing the idea of tagging along to a “work thing” and dinner afterwards. 

God, Lenny had no idea that this was the night he was sure he was in love with Midge. She looked quite stunning in her pink dress and even though he was sitting in between Bella Abzug and Zsa Zsa Gabor, Midge was the only woman on his mind. And of course just _had_ to bring her on TV with him. 

Next came the soft crooning of “Loco Amor” in the small restaurant that Midge and Lenny were in. He found that he really couldn’t take his eyes off of her but lucky for him, Midge felt the same. They stared and stared until Lenny offered to dance. 

The ever-present love Lenny had for Midge grew when she placed her head upon his shoulder so delicately and he held onto her arm so gently like it would break if he placed any force on it. That was the moment for Midge. The one she knew that she was definitely in love with Lenny Bruce and she had no idea what to do about it. 

She came so close to following him inside of his motel-room-but-also-makeshift-apartment but knew that if she did, she would be utterly screwed. And so Lenny called out “Maybe someday. Before I’m dead.” And Midge replied with “It’s a date.”

_I asked if you might,  
Stay a while,  
Oh stay a while,  
You said maybe if your voice could,  
Make me smile,  
Oh make me smile,  
And I told ya give me one chance,  
I don't deserve you to give me this one chance,  
You're my medicine,  
You're my medicine._

Lenny’s life seemed so hopeless at times. He felt like there was nothing that could make it any better. It was night after night of getting arrested, getting bailed out, getting drunk, and repeating the process. And so entered Midge who seemingly changed his life and made everything better. 

A few months after Midge was kicked off of Shy Baldwin’s tour, a note came to her job at B. Altman. It smelled of Lenny’s familiar cologne mixed with whiskey. 

Lenny kept the note short and simple. He just wanted to get his point across and nothing else. 

_I’m in love with you._

_Back in New York. Dinner?_

_Lenny_


End file.
